List of Wedding Ceremony Participants - Wedding Music - Western Weddings

Western Weddings

Music played at Western weddings includes a processional song for walking down the aisle (ex: wedding march) and reception dance music includes:

• Various works for trumpet and organ, arguably the most famous of which include the Prince of Denmark's March by Jeremiah Clarke as a processional, the "Trumpet Tune" by Henry Purcell and the "Trumpet Voluntary" by John Stanley as recessionals.
• Selections by George Frideric Handel, perhaps most notably the "Air" from his Water Music as processional and the "Alla Hornpipe" as recessional.
• The "Bridal Chorus" from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner, often used as the processional and commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride". Richard Wagner is said to have been anti-Semitic, and as a result, the Bridal Chorus is often not used at Jewish weddings.
• Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D is an alternative processional.
• The "Wedding March" from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for the Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, used as a recessional.
• The "Toccata" from Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony for Organ No. 5, used as a recessional.
• Segments of the Ode to Joy, the fourth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.